At the end of 2018 much of the 2018 New Year's Wish List will be replaced with hopes for 2019; portions of these wishes/hopes will be carryovers from 2018 due to the fact that the LACMTA is unable to assign the needs and wishes of its' ridership a very high priority!

Based upon the Parliamentary PM's Question Time at which questions may be asked of the Prime Minister.

In light of the LACMTA's unilateral actions to "make transfers easier", eliminating Day Passes, etc., One can see that they exhibit the same human kindness toward their captive ridership as those who originally flew the above flag did towards their captives.

Let's start with elimination of Day Passes: Day passes used to cost $7 for those with a TAP card; the passes remained in effect from the time of purchase until 3 A.M on the following day; the passes could be used for multiple trips. the passes proved to be economical if one rode more than four buses during the period of validity. This meant that a mother could make multiple shopping trips, pay bills, take children to the doctor etc., etc. all for a daily total Metro charge of $7!

No longer, beginning on July 15th, neither transfers nor Day Passeswill be made available on buses. One can obtain one from rail station vending machines; however will require paying , at minimum, a single bus fare to ride to a rail station AND time to make the trip.This plan the result of the disobliging LACMTA staff, masked as positive, is actually regressive, punitive, illogical and is almost sure to bring about a drop in ridership. I have asked people, to act on my behalf, to find out the details of this plan regarding transfers and so far there have been no results. They asked for a clear definition of what transfer on second boarding really means; Additionally, request were made of Muni agencies and various TAP sites, to detail the exact amount of money which would be deducted from uses TAP cards based upon their cohort: student; senior and regular passenger. Again, no definitive replies have been received!

Apparently a hearing was held Wednesday, January 17, 2018 at 1PM, please note, a hallmark of the LACMTA: "the convenient" day of the week (Wednesday) and time (13:00) of the meeting. A day and time which ensues that the most frequent users of day passes and transfers would be engaged in other activities, such as, earning a living.

What make this even more disgusting is the attempt by the LACMTA, by providing the sketchiest of details, to pass the blame on to the Muni agencies who actually take the money from users' TAP cards.

Please, let's diverge for a moment and review the LACMTA's revenue sharing with the Muni agencies. Please review this report (extract) LACMTA-REPORT

N.B. the $17,560,833 shared with some Muni agencies and documented in the report; let's determine how many $0.75 transfers the LACMTA could provide to its' passengers with that amount. It turns out to be 23,414,444! Or in daily terms 64,149 each day for a year! N.B. the LACMTA freely shares the tax dollars it collects from the taxpayers with other transit agencies but does NOTHING for its' ridership except make their transportation life more difficult and more costly. And that is nothing of which they can be proud. Under the new transfer plan, this Mole believes that the LACMTA will reduce the Muni operators share of the Measure M revenue stream and tell the Muni operators that they can collect the transfer charges directly.

If the penny-pinching LACMTA were to take some positive action on behalf of its' ridership, it would allow free access to all participating Muni agencies by holders of a Metro TAP card without requiring even 1 penny of payment payment. That would increase ridership! There was a day when the Metro pass allowed on to ride the Commuter Buses and the Dash buses. No longer! This is the reason that La Taupe always says: Every "shakeup" [bi-annual schedule changes] we end up paying more for less!

Everyone associated with the LACMTA should hang their collective heads in shame as a result of this blatant attempt at increasing fare collections and further pick the pockets of the working poor.

Do their bonuses increase by 25% whenever a given accounting period's fare collections increase by 5%?

Especially, now that la Taupe finds, from discussion with someone who assured me that this is true, Day Passes may be purchased at Toonerville Trolley [light rail] stations! Once again it is rail-centric

As one can easily determine, transfers will now cost .35 (35 cents) when taken from your Metro (Any) Tap Card. This is a reduction from the .75 for regular fare riders but an increase from the .25 that seniors expect to pay.

This is yet another examples of "When politicians involve themselves in technical matters, expect failures."

Imagining a white Board in the LACMTA's MEETING ROOM

CEO's Question Time

Based upon the Parliamentary PM's Question Time at which questions may be asked of the Prime Minister.

Questions for Mr. Phillip A. Washington, CEO Metro

Dear Mr. Washington:

I respectfully request answers to questions which puzzle me about the LACMTA operations. I would suggest that you present your answers to Los Angeles Times reporters who have my permission to edit, rephrase as long as the intent of the question is preserved and the publication rights to my questions without cost or obligation. With the understanding that the results of the Question and Answer interview be published in the Los Angeles Times. This allows the widest possible to your answers and I, as a Los Angeles Times subscriber, will also have easy access to your answers.

Your Mole has listed his 2018 New Year's Wishes below and hopes that the LACMTA WILL MAKE THEM COME TRUE. If that happens, it will make it the triumph of hope over experience!

UNANSWERED - THE QUESTIONS: The LACMTA spent lots of citizen's tax money to put up stop number signs around the system. How many were installed? How many were removed? Texting is still a viable option to find out bus arrivals, yet few stop retain their numbers. Why, exactly, were the stop number signs removed?

P.S. It shouldn't require two years to begin improving service, just have your staff read all the back issues of this blog and they will have a work list to start on, like, right away! Oh, you are very welcome Mr. Washington!

The question for July: Why was such a poorly conceived and executed transfer system allowed to go forward given the following:

OCTA - is not a party to the LACMTA'S "Let's eliminate paper transfers" effort. This cuts off a wide swath of transportation options, to the north (think Fullerton), south really the ENTIRE OCTA area. See map below.

OCTA Service Area♪

Then too, is the leap of faith required by this Mole when the LACMTA AND MONEY IS INVOLVED. Simply put, the dysfunctional agency refuse to supply and financial reporting regarding its support of or investments in areas, which frankly they lack expertise and can't seem to avoid areas of which they should steer clear. Examples: They talked about becoming involved in an Uber like, "last mile" operation. They supported, though perhaps weakly, Bird scooters as another "last mile" operation. And yet another "last mile" operation, Metro's own money pit*, the bicycle rental operation. Given the unsafe conditions involved in bicycling in Los Angeles, they not only promote it, they don't even provide the minimum level of safety equipment, viz., helmets!

*Based upon su Topo's own surveys of the few empty spots in the stallranks. And of course, the ear ringing silence from the LACMTA about what a grand idea renting bicycles was. Then too, riding a bicycle on a 32°C (90°F) day is not a lot of fun; for anyone involved.ABC News reports that scooter-related injuries surge over summer In the article David Ho writes "... those sleek, fold-up foot scooters have sent nearly 9,500 Americans, mostly children, to emergency rooms with injuries this year." Please follow the link above and read this important article. You will soon understand why la Taupe is so against these conveyances. They are, illogically, allowed to mix with pedestrians on walk ways and endanger, especially small children who may walk in an unpredictable manner.. Where others, including the mayor of Los Angeles, see the scooters at "first and last mile transportation solutions, you Mole views them as plaything operated by young people who many be unable to exercise proper precautions.

La Taupe does not hesitate say that he is much less than enchanted by the LACMTA'S new transfer payment system (store money on your tap card and when you make a second boarding transfer, the cost of the transfer will be deducted from the balance on your TAP card). Your Mole is sure that the plan has some GAPS.

Su Topo believes and hopes that this language clarifies the LACMTA's cuteness: [The cost of a transfer will be deducted from the balance stored on your tap card, if sufficient to cover the cost of the transfer AND you are making the first transfer to a participating Muni agency's bus system upon leaving a Metro bus- MOLE] This language allows for the possibility of riding any number metro buses before transferring to a Muni bus.Your Mole is also critical of the accounting safeguards, really the lack of accounting safeguards which are a result of the LACMTA'S total disregard of its' ridership. Their attitude is something along the lines of "If we do it, they'll have to put up with it". In this case money will be taken off the TAP CARD and the user will have no idea of how much was deducted or why it was taken. Here is realistic example: You exit a Metro bus with $5.00 on your TAP card, you board a Big Blue bus, tap your card and the fare box gives you an OK beep tone or whatever that agency has decided upon to mean passed. How much was taken, no se! Would you buy an ice cream cone with your Discover Card based upon such a lack of documentation. It is this Mole's understanding that, in order to be able to check your balance you need to pay $5 for the privilege; which likely does NOT include a running audit trail of how it got to be that way. Perhaps the LACMTA has a smiling Mr. Mountebank who says "Trust me!" However, we riders want PROOF!!

The entire transfer "system" has the look and feel of something "designed" by politicians.What is necessary in this case, which involves the LACMTA and other transportation agencies, electronically transferring funds from your TAP card invisibly, is a receipting procedure. Which this Systems Engineer feels is well within the FARE BOX capabilities, possibly with some augmentation required; if not within LACMTA staff capabilities.

Example: I have seen fare boxes, in use in Southern California, which printed transfers . The transfer printing function could be altered to print receipts along these lines; the San Francisco Muni has been using fare boxes with transfer printing capability for over a year. Here is a link to the San Francisco Muni's announcement. Note the clean format and excellent communication; what a positive approach when compared to "others".

There it is, the basis for issuing receipts. Provided for you gratis, by la Taupe; you are welcome, Mr. Washington! Perhaps you can add receipt printing to the existing on-board GFI Odyssey fare boxes; giving you the possibility of reverting to transfers printed at the fare box should there be when you see the implementation experience systems and/or legal glitches what this Moles sees as a poorly thought out mess. Expecting typical LACMTA "thoroughness", this Mole feels that there are yet lots of "t"s have been left uncrossed and "i"s un-dotted. See also, the Mole's experience in attempting verify the LACMTA's statement that transfer prices would not increase; the statement remains unverified at this juncture.

Bottom line: This has the look and feel of a fare increase; which it definitely is in the case of the discontinuance of Day Passes. One must not forget Orange County; OCTA used to accept Metro paper transfers but will not after 15 July. That is another fare increase, especially in the Long Beach area because quite a few OCTA buses are seen in Long Beach. LACMTA 5 - Passengers 0

:-(

Your Mole has under taken a modification to the Validator/Fare Box displays that will allow passengers to see how much of their TAP money is being taken and who is taking their money. I believe that the devises already have the capability to do what is shown below OR could/should be upgraded to provide these simple functions.

Su Topo's Design for auditing-I.♪

The Tap Validator/Fare Box should display (as Above) when boarding a bus or entering a turnstile. It should also produce audio "Eight Sixty. That way if it flashes by too quickly one still has the audio as an audit trail.

Su Topo's Design for auditing-II.♪

When a transfer amount or any amount reduces the card balance,the display should read as above and the audio should Display and say "Fare $1.00", When "Fare" appears/is heard it indicates either transfer conditions for transfer on second boarding (What ever that means) were not met and a full fare was deducted; when/if an insufficient amount to pay the full fare, the display reads and and says "Pay One dollar" or the difference between the full fare and the Tap Card Balance. "Pay" indicates that the Card Balance was insufficient to cover the transfer amount or the full fare and the passenger is asked for the difference. I can not perform a complete redesign of the system because I do not know what transfer on second boarding really means - no one who was asked replied either! An insufficient tap card balance to cover the transfer may never occur if it violates the conditions of transfer on second boarding. This is unknown when you tap into a LACMTA bus because the only service they offer is augmenting your Tap Card Balance. Further nothing in the way of a "users guide" is offered by the LACMTA or the Muni operators. And when you debus from an LACMTA bus you are unaware that when you tapped in, that transfer on second boarding conditions were or were not properly established. Or even if the fare box is in service unless the driver waves you through.

Su Topo's Design for auditing-III.♪

When the conditions of transfer on second boarding are met and a sufficient balance to pay the transfer amount computed by the Muni Operator's Fare box, the Tap Validator/Fare box will display/say as shown above.

This is far from a perfect because I am attempting to patch an incredibly poorly designed "system".

We need Your Input♪

Mr. Washington, please accept all of the above and the entire contents of this blog as responses to the on-board bus ads like the one shown above:

Say Hello To:♪

While the Mole is applying himself to LACMTA tasks, the above work of the graffitists (above) is spot on! There seems to be infinitesimal effort expended by the LACMTA on supervising the bus route contractors, such as, M.V. Transportation and others. Lines 125, 130, 232 and others are the ones which consistently offer unpleasant rides. Mr. Washington, take some rides for yourself; soon you will see that to increase ridership you must make the LACMTA's service, seem, what shall I say, less third worldly.AND to give my readers an idea of the really big money involved for giving what any usual person would consider to be poor service - please read the graffitists take in the "Say Hello To" photo just above. then take a look at this document.

AMERICA'S WORST!♪

The LACMTA DOES have a priority for its' passengers!♪

On the topic of every "shake-up" cycle I'm paying more for less service: Your Mole has recently experienced having his pass declined on a DOT shuttle in DTLA. La Taupe explained that he'd ridden A DOT shuttle not so long ago; which the DOT driver denied after a longish discussion that the ad seen on board a METRO bus was now "inoperative [su Topo's word] and they were back to collecting DOT's full fare again. Of course, there were no notices on board buses which explained the change in policy —which is typical of the secretive LCMTA.

La Taupe searched for the "Metro Transfers Design Guide". He can't, in good conscience, provide you with a link because he felt that the guide is next to useless for the purpose of understanding how the new transfer policy will be implemented. That said, with more work, it would rise to the point of being useless.

The new transfer policy as understood by su Topo: if you load money —I believe that $1 is the minimum amount, when you transfer (transfer on second boarding in Metro's terms) the agency (Big Blue Bus, CCMBL, Torrance Transit, Foothill Transit, DASH? to which you transfer, WILL DEDUCT THE TRANSFER AMOUNT. What does that mean?

For the LACMTA's take on their new transfer policy try this link, and good luck! N.B. They answer the question "will metro transfer prices increase?" NO. But since they are not selling transfers anymore, of course they are not increasing the price of something they no longer sell! SO, the agency to which you transfer could well charge you their full fare and you would never know. Only in the case where you don't have sufficient stored value; in which case la Taupe thinks that you will be denied a transfer fare and have to pay full fare.

I am sorry, but this Mole is extremely suspicious of anything involving money and the LACMTA and assumes —since they have never done anything which benefits the ridership— why should this be any different? No doubt, you will end up paying more money for less service. And when the LACMTA IS questioned about the policy; their answer will probably be along the lines of "Oh, we didn't anticipate that! Now it is all programmed and with so many involved it is so difficult to change. someone just misunderstood."

Now, it would be nice if the LACMTA would write a clear, complete explanation of how the new transfer policy is expected to be implemented. Emphasis should be placed on the TRANSFER COSTS WHICH ARE EXPECTED TO BE DEDUCTED FROM THE CASH STORED ON YOUR TAP CARD. Here is a sample of how it might be communicated.

AgencyTransfer cost deducted from the TAP Card's "stored value"

Regular Senior Student

Beach Cities ?

Big Blue Bus ?

Culver City .75

DOT Shuttle .35♣

Foothill Transit ?

Long Beach Transit .50 .50† .50

Etc.

Su Topo will fill in the unknowns above, if and when they become defined.

Should that be so difficult? NO! Is it difficult? Apparently.

Would that be a benefit to the LACMTA's ridership? YES!

Will they do it? Probably not!

Do they even understand the details of the new policy? It depends, if the policy will put more money in some body's pockets, they probably understand it otherwise, Maybe not!

An associate contacted Taptogo and other sources on behalf of the lametromole and did NOT receive a definitive reply! Several replies were received but none would clearly define what transfer on second boarding really meant. An example was given alone these lines, suppose one were to ride three (3) metro buses before transferring to a Muni bus, is this transfer on fourth boarding?

†This value is twice the old rate for selling paper transfers to seniors which belies the LACMTA's statement that transfer prices would not increase! As usual, the LACMTA does a shameful job of communicating.

♣This amount too, is more than seniors currently pay and represents an increase.

An unwelcome sign!♪

Notices like these are frequently seen around or near bus stops. Businesses don't want LACMTA passengers in their facilities, neither does the LACMTA want to provide any creature comforts for their passengers either.

No Stop Number Sign here either♪

Here are su Topo's 2018 New Year wishes:

That the LACMTA would be more open rather than secretive. For example, reporting to us how much they spent to put up and take down the STOP NUMBER signs. And exactly why the signs were removed. Then again, some of the signs seem to be reappearing? Can they make up their minds? Yes, and then again, No.

That the LACMTA would be more considerate of the needs of their ridership.

That LACMTA would provide more and better security aboard trains and buses.

Conversely, my New YEAR WISH is that the RIDERSHIP would would have better manners. The answer to "Please remove your feet from the seats", should be, "yes, I'm Sorry". Not a string of curses and arguments — and this from a "lady"? Is it any wonder that more usual people try public transportation and soon give up? It is a function of SECURITY and good order. But since the LACMTA "management", except for the rare, politically motivated, photo op, how could they even know what their "service" is really like.

Sleeping Soundly at LAXCBC 2018-08-05♪

People are quick to describe this as the greatest country in the world. Can that statement really be true when we cannot supply basic human needs —a warm bed, a simple hot meal and essential hygiene facilities— for the most needy among us?

Close Enough for LACMTA Work♪

That LACMTA would train their drivers to position their buses at the bus stop "flag" and close enough to the curb to be a safe, easy step away. This guy is about a metre away from the curb! This driver thinks that passengers can easily reach the curb —which is obviously too far a way for a safe exit. Either the drivers are not trainable or they just don't care. which do you think it is?

—

Good Enough for LACMTA Work♪

That the LACMTA would supervise their bus stop cleaning contractors so that they actually clean the bus stop, not just do the absolute minimum. Shown above is an often seen condition, the dustbin inside the metal frame is emptied, well eventually. In this case the plastic liner has been removed and positioned adjacent to, above in the photo, the metal frame is adjacent to, below in the photo. But, within the metal frame, at the bottom waste continues to collect without ever being emptied. It accumulatesinsitu, over weeks or months, perhaps even years. Of course, the LACMTA makes no provision to follow up, supervise contractors or penalise poor work.

The LACMTA seems stymied as to how to deal with this situation. So, su Topo will advise them: (1) Send a letter to the CEO of each organisation which has the responsibility of cleaning bus stops. Say, "Payments will not be made when stops show that cleaning has not been properly performed. The portion held back will represent the total owed divided by the number of stops in the contract —the amount to clean a single stop— multiplied by the stops which have been inspected and found to be inadequately cleaned.;2) inspect the stops, note and photograph the deficiencies. You should see a flurry of activity to remediate the problems. You will also experience a decrease in poorly cleaned stops. There is a term for this activity, it is called MANAGEMENT! There is also a term for the manner in which the LACMTA presently conducts business in this area. It is called "paying good money for fourth-rate work".

That the LACMTA would supervise their contractors so that they set the volume of their on board stop announcements, dispatch radios [why can't they use the same "telephone" system used by Metro?]at a comfortable listening level.

That the LACMTA would supervise their contractors so that the contractor's drivers would not "entertain"riders by turning off the ASA and then singing out stops. many, if not most riders want a safe, quiet trip so that they can listen to personal audio equipment, sleep, read or just sit quietly.

That the LACMTA would collect fares from all passengers [see security above] rather than having income be drained away —it is a crime, theft of services.

That the LACMTA would add the bus drivers number to the scrolling sign inside the bus, so that riders can report those drivers who are rude, crude and have poor driving skills. Presently,both CCMBL and BBB scroll their drivers numbers.

That the LACMTA wouldinsist that their drivers —regular and contractors—secure wheelchair passengers. Rather, they ask the passenger if they wish to be secured; most seem to reply "NO". In the event of an accident, these heavy wheelchairs could bounce around the bus and injure other passengers. But like many items, safety to passengers is extremely low on the LACMTA's priority list —if they even have such a list.

LAWA Flyaway Bus with a METRO tribute!♪

The the LACMTA is spending the taxpayers money on Rent-a-Bike programs and other adventures which are only tangentially related to transportation, all the while their pockets are being picked by LAWA!

That the LACMTA fosters a culture of openness and transparency! Providing quarterly and annual reports for each significant project, reporting which reflects project status in terms of ahead of or behind plan and a budget metric showing dollars over/under budget would allow the public to evaluate their competency.

Riding LACMTA services is generally not that pleasant to begin with and is only made more unpleasant by experiencing the above "punishments".

Can this be true?♪

As I walked the halls of the Taj Mahal this month, as the guest of an employee who was not aware that he was talking to the Mole, la Taupe looked through the open door of a room identified as the Office of Exceptional Ineptitude and took the photo shown above. It must be true because, as I rack my brain, I can add no accomplishment to their list.

LACMTA Limits♪

As I looked more carefully, at the other end of the room I saw another white board, took a photo of it and placed that photo above. You may not be aware that the LACMTA was criticised for spending taxpayers' money on entertaining themselves. It is good to note that the criticism was effective and they now have fixed spending limits on their entertainment.

2018-04-30 - Additional Suggestions

Mr. Washington here are some things which you can easily improve.

Institute a 740 stop at Imperial BL to connect with the 120 line.

Presently, riders of the southbound 740 must walk a longish one block plus plus and then endure a very dangerous crossing of the two lane on ramp of the 105 freeway!

<holding for a video of the crossing>

Allow for request stops so as to better intersect with desired transfer buses. When a bus must stop for a red light at a curb and a metro stop is just steps away from the curb, allow passengers to exit.Example: The situation described just above exists at the intersection of Century BL and Hawthorne BL with the 40/740 northbound lines crossing South-North and the South bound 40/740 lines crossing North-South.If the Eastbound 117 stops for a red light at the SOUTH-West corner of the intersection, riders, like me –frequently, could walk a few steps in safety to catch the bus.Usually riders like me are FORCED by some edict that is supposed to be for “safety” to ride the 117 to the stop at the SOUTH-EAST corner of the intersection than cross BUSY, BUSY Hawthorne BL, after a long wait for a walk light, then doge heavy traffic to get back where they were (on the bus) minutes ago.Often the view they get of the 40/740 is the of tail-lights of the departing bus; missed it!!

Moving the bus stop at 96th Street and Airport BL just a few feet South so that no vehicle could pass a stopped bus. This is so easy, even for the LACMTA, that it is a no brainer.Eventually, someone who debused at the stop, in the midst of crossing 96th Street, will be struck and seriously injured or killed by a vehicle which zoomed around the stopped bus.

Re-route the 232 Line legacy path that is an artifact of one way streets which no longer exist. It wastes fuel, imposes unnecessary wear and tear on buses and travels an unnecessarily elongated route. The present route, and this applies only to the Northbound 232: turns left (EAST) from Sepulveda at Mariposa; follows Mariposa to NASH where it turns right (SOUTH) and proceeds to the bus stop and drops Green line passengers and picks up Long Beach bound passengers backtracks to Grand AV where it turns right; proceeds to Sepulveda where it turns right over-running it's first traverse. This is an artifact of a long-ago changed pattern of one-way streets.

The Mole's suggested reroute (for years): from Sepulveda turn right at Grand AV; proceed EAST to Nash; turn left and drop Green Line MARIPOSA STATION PASSENGERS on the EAST SIDE OF NASH; and pickups LAX bound passengers there as well; Make a left turn onto Mariposa; proceeds to Sepulveda where it make a right turn onto existing route. The existing stop at Sepulveda, just north of Grand, can be served from a new stop at Grand, just east of Sepulveda.

A new stop on the North Side of Mariposa at Continental will be necessary.

The SOUTHBOUND 232 can continue on its' current route without change; EXCEPT that it would be ideal to loop through Plaza El Segundo by turning left off Sepulveda into South Hughes Way; then following the route of the WESTBOUND 125 through Plaza El Segundo; Exiting at Park PLace with a left turn onto Sepulveda.

The LACMTA hates to move bus stops even when it is necessary and they end up with a ridiculous route.The 115 Westbound bus, near the end of the route, passes the northwest corner of Sepulveda Bl and La Tijera BL located at Sepulveda Bl and La Tijera Bl; which shopping center has a large supermarket, a pharmacy, a bank, and quite a few restaurants. Instituting a request stop there would require no expense and only a brief stop to discharge passengers. It would be nice to see the LACMTA do something for its' ridership! How about it, Mr. Washington?

Then there is the 117 Line stop at Century BL and Aviation Bl near LAX. The stop was relocated to the northEAST corner of Century and Aviation while he Crenshaw Line flyover of Century Bl was being constructed. Now, years later the construction has been completed but the stop remains. Both CCMBL and BBB stop on the northeast corner of the Century Bl and Aviation Bl —in fact those organisation never changed their bus stops. This means that 117 Line passengers must debus at the stop on the northeast corner of Aviation BL, as noted above, cross a very busy intersection and walk almost a full block in total to make that connection. LACMTA!, revert to the former bus stop and save your passengers some hassle and provide a smooth transfer experience.

Mr. Washington: Please take action to place Porta-Potties at the LAXCBC. So as to suppress the PUBLIC URINATION which goes on there daily.

Trash cans? We don't need no trash cans!

The photograph below documents the situation at the Maxella AV and Lincoln BL stop on the BBB number 3 Line. It is the sort of “work” one would expect from the LACMTA. They taped or caused to be taped shut the aperture in the plastic pipes associated with power poles. These pipes continue to be used as improvised trash cans. BBB N.B. The stop still needs a trash can!

BBB Maxella Trash Fix???♪

Su Topo will include this comment in every post with the above until BBB corrects the problem. For quite awhile BBB has been charging for inter-line transfers, reversing the long-standing policy of free transfers to other BBB lines. This presents the BB as less friendly to its ridership than in years past.

Too, BBB has spent lots of money to build a big headquarters on Colorado BL just east of 4th Street. Mr. King, just a few dollars for a trash can, you might need a few more to cover other bus stops too, will erase this section. After all, it is Marina Del Rey! :-)

Why a trash container is needed♪

The photo above shows exactly what people will do when a trash container is not provided. They will jury rig something. What they did, in this case, is rip off the tape which covered the plastic pipes at the base of the utility pole and stuffed their trash into the pipe, nice, huh?

The man pictured above could ensure that trash containers are installed along BBB routes with a simple three-line memorandum.

White Line Incursion Series

Su Topo uses video to highlight the problem of scofflaw drivers endangering Metro bus passengers yet, no authority seems to want to take ownership of the problem. The issue is not unique to the particular site documented by your Mole, but is illustrative of a general problem. Your Mole encourages you to report similar problems to the appropriate agencies in your area(s) and hope that you will have better luck than he. In the youtube.com videos linked below one can see exactly what happens when the policing agencies fail to enforce traffic laws. Further, when the agency responsible for public transportation is so lacking in every skill necessary for success yet will apply their only tool to the job. when your only tool is a PR flack; then every issue seem soluble by issuing a boastful press release.

The video(s) linked below document the important fact that a never- ending stream of vehicles fail to use the lane as required by law.

Neither are the policing agencies active when it comes to protecting us by bringing these obvious and frequent traffic law violations to an immediate halt. The LACMTA is derelict as well, in that they fail to use the near hourly proof of the violations captured by the on board cameras, mentioned here, and discussed at length in the posting of 2012-05-31.

2018-03-31In this videoyou will see Enterprise Rant-A-Car Shuttles cutoff a 111 Line bus. It represents the typical dangerous incursion of other traffic across a solid white line into the bus' lane

These incursions happen multiple times per day so it is only a matter of time before an accident occurs.

Airport auto rental shuttle drivers, FlyAway drivers and others, if shown in the above videos, are all Class-B operators and should know better; but often they don't care and neither does the LACMTA nor any of the policing agencies which have jurisdiction in the area.

Please carefully note that in some videos, pedestrians are pinned to the curb by the vehicles that cut in front of the bus —as a result these pedestrians are illegally denied the right-of-way. Which right-of-way would be unchallengeablely theirs IF, and only IF, Mr. Washington would review su Topo’s simple solution (vide infra) and implement it.

In spite of the potential for these violations to occur several times per HOUR, I have never seen a police presence at this location. One would think that with a bus schedule taped to the dashboard one of the several policing agencies would have made some arrests by now. Unless they have "more important" work to do than protecting bus passengers.

La Taupe feels that it is appropriate to dedicate these video(s) to ALL the agencies that should be protecting us. So, they are dedicated to (1): Airport (LAWA) Police, (2) the L.A.P.D., (3) the L. A. County Sheriff’s Department and (4) Mr. Washington who is the current CEO of the LACMTA.

Mr. Washington, Su Topo has recommended a simple solution to the problem. That is, have the 111 Line buses pull up to pedestrian crosswalk, stop there stop and discharge passengers. Doing so eliminates the space in front of the bus which the always-in-a-hurry scofflaws use to cut in front of the bus. But, with the LACMTA nothing is simple. Although the solution could be implemented with nothing more than a memo to the 111 Line drivers, it is a task for which the LACMTA so far has proved to be inadequate.

Office of Exceptional Ineptitude♪

Rumour Central

The plans are not yet final but there are leaks to the effect that the OOEI has considered out maneuvering Elon Musk, after the good press which obtained after he detailed his high-speed subway transportation system.

In light of the plans plans of private developers to build an aerial tramway to Dodger Stadium; they insist upon calling it a "gondola", which in fact, is only the passenger compartment. The OOEI MAYbe developing plans for transporting baseball fans to Dodger Stadium using a less expensive, more efficient aerial method.

Exactly what might these plans entail?

Well, does the thought of a puff of smoke emanating from a cannon barrel give you a hint?

Does Elon Musk's "Dugout Loop" put an end to the exciting prospect of flying through the air and ending up being caught in a net?

Pasadena, CA -Metro Bike Rack-1♪

2018-03-09 The LACMTA thought that they'd spent fist-fulls of taxpayer dollars and earn barrels of profit on this bike rental scheme.

Pasadena, CA -Metro Bike Rack-2♪

There are not so many empty slots in these racks because there are other options for bike rentals. Perhaps the LACMTA should stick to what they know best, er stick to their version of mass transit! Even the crowded, unfriendly buses are better on rainy days.

Pasadena, CA -Metro Bike "Infrastructure"♪

This truck, and perhaps more like it, has a driver who drives around and reclaims bikes that end up, wherever.

This costs money too. Your Mole feels that barrels of profit are not likely to materialise.

There is a downside too, as far as it appears, helmets are not rented with the bikes and when the lawsuits begin an outflow of funds could also follow. By not renting helmets there is an implied "safety" that doesn't exist on the streets of Los Angeles. The Metro advertisements show a woman riding down a wide, seemingly uninhabited country lane. See: Mole's post.The above photos are representative of the management's "sitting in the Taj Mahal and dreaming of ways to spend money". What is needed is a hard-nosed Controller and an Inspector General who is dedicated to rooting out the extant waste, abuse and probably some fraud as well.The controller should publish details of the agency's Budget position as well as a Profit and Loss Statement —methinks lots of loss!The voters have given the LACMTA free rein to tap into the tax revenue stream for DECADES. If anyone feels that that is the manner in which to encourage responsible spending, they should lie down until the feeling goes away.

A Filthy Bus Stop, number 07547.♪

When one encounters a situation like this, try to rectify it by calling the number below which usually appears on the bus bench. When the stop is cleaned, the detritus inside the metal framework and under the blue litter can is almost never removed. The word "fifth rate" comes to mind. Also the words unsupervised and/or poorly managed play a large role in the way the LACMTA interfaces, if they do actually interface, with their contractors. This is a simple thing to correct; just supervise the vendors tasked to do the cleanup!

An even Filthier Bus Stop, number 08670.♪

This scene makes a statement about management; really about how management is breaching their fiduciary responsibility. Taxpayer funds are spent on cleaning bus stops; in actuality, taxpayer funds are paid to vendors who are contracted to clean the bus stops, whether the vendors do a good or extremely poor job, as in the situation pictured above.

Call for Maintenance.♪

Bus stop benches often have a contact number affixed to them. I can't say always because as you have seen, the LACMTA seems to lack effective processes —they could never conform to ISO 9000 requirements—.As for calling maintenance, la Taupe called once, and surprise, no action was taken.

Bottle Scavengers took the plastic liner!♪ Stop number ITC♪

As one can see, the plastic liner is missing; taken to hold recycled bottles, most likely.

A contractor cleans up ITC♪

Pictured above, we can see an LACMTA contractor, WMS, putting ITC in order. As I waited for 740 bus, the four man crew was hard at work.

2018-09-15 Another cleaning crew is at work at the ITC on this Saturday Morning. They are using a pressure hose stream to clean up, most of, but not all the blobs of gum which dot the pavement of the Center. It looks quite good when compared to an earlier state; Perhaps they need the hoses employed by BBB to remove all traces of the blobs? However, some users seem unfamiliar with the concept of a rubbish bin.

Extremely Dirty Parada!♪

It appears that the recyclers have attacked this rubbish bin, too. Emptying its contents and then taking the plastic liner and anything that could be recycled.

A theory of personal development to which I subscribe, suggests that one should never point out a problem without proposing a solution.

Solving the problem.♪

The Problem - trash bins only partly emptied like the one shown above.

It would also be best practice to stencil the bus stop number as your Mole did in his photo.

Here is a view with the plastic container removed.♪

It is easy to see, and remove the trash, perhaps, with a rake like implement. Rather than let it accumulate month, after month, after month! Which sloppy work provide food for insects and rodents which in turn, become vectors for diseases.

This Container has been attacked by a recycler!♪

Then too, one must not place too much blame on the cleaners —because the LACMTA makes no attempt to quality control, inspect or oversee the work.

An Even Dirtier Parada!♪

2018-09-23 at the bus stop located at the south-east corner of the intersection of Santa Monica and Sepulveda Blvds, I see one of the dirtiest Bus Stops in Los Angeles. The LACMTA loves to boast about how tourists during the Olympic Games will be surprised that Los Angeles has such an "advanced transportation System". I say that they will be shocked to see how Los Angeles has such a "Third Worldly like transportation System".

A Stairway at a rail Station.♪

As almost everything associated with the LACMTA it is abominably maintained. In this case some riders cannot hold on their rubbish until they can properly dispose of it. Their thoughtlessness endangers their fellow riders, who could slip on the thoughtlessly disposed of plastic or other slippery materials and fall; all compounded by the fact that the LACMTA seems to be in no hurry to cleanup the mess.The conditions pictured above a clear indication that the LACMTA is incapable of managing its' contractors. Su Topo never hesitates to offer his considered opinion.There is no question that the LACMTA lack an organisational structure to manage those who supply contract services to the agency. So, here is a solution: Stop all bonus payments to management and any others who are presently paid bonuses. The bonus, for people who adequately preform their job functions should be that they keep their jobs. Generally, LACMTA management are overpaid and supplied with too many perks. The perks, too, should be greatly reduced. Chauffeurs and company supplied cars should be eliminated. There are lots of buses and riding them may help management understand what is wrong with their system, e.g., too many free rider and some, perhaps only a few, rude operators. Management should focus on the Metro ridership, making things move faster, smoother and more comfortable along with providing the much needed restrooms along the way.Unfortunately, the management. IMHO, thinks that their job is to sit in the Taj Mahal and dream up ways to spend money.

Competition is Encouraged

Beverly Hills Bicycles♪

The photos above show some of the competition which has been encouraged by the LACMTA, whose pricing umbrella provides a profit opportunity for companies like, Bird, Beverly Hills Bicycles, etc.

Lime Bike♪

This cluster of lime Bikes was seen in DTLA.

Metro Bikes-1♪f

As was this cluster of Metro Bikes. There seem not to be many rented.

Metro Bikes-2♪

Here are more Metro Bikesseen in Downtown Los Angeles.

Not so many rented here either! The LACMTA'S idea of getting rich by renting bicycles while solving the "Last Mile" problem may have come to the usual end of such LACMTA plans! I'd really like to see the original proposal, budget and the P & L statement on this project!

Apropos to the topic of Bicycles, is an article which appeared in La Opinión(Garcia).

"Philip Rodriguez, a resident of Wilmington, said he uses his bicycle as a means of transportation but also has a car and knows how dangerous and careful it must be in both cases.

For me what I have seen the most when I ride a bicycle is when the cars are going to leave [a parking spot] and the driver only looks to one side, [they] do not turn [and look] to the other [side] where a cyclist could come," he explained. "Many also spend their time texting on the phone.”

Bicycle safety is of critical importance in Los Angeles.

Muchas gracias a La Opinión y a la Sra. Gracia por su trabajo.

Further evidence of the LACMTA's approach to maintenance.♪

We know that this is the Metro, but really, what are you trying to tell us?

An Accident Waiting to Happen!♪

Confused drivers, pedestrians, tired Train Operators, or any combination or permutation of these, which at grade level, can cause fatalities. Note the downward slope of the tracks which can result in an additional operator workload in controlling trains.

What bus am I riding?♪

The "shakeup" (bi-annual schedule changes) has been in effect for about three weeks and finding on-board scheduleswhich match the route of the bus in which you are riding, is next to impossible. HINT: It is NOT the 128

Line! In September, three months after the June "shakeup" either no schedules are available on buses OR the wrong schedules are in the racks; example: a 40 Line bus has 110 Line schedules.

Oops, trip on this OOEI artifact and you'll be under the bus!♪

Extremely sloppy work! A bus stop flag pole was removed here leaving the pole's foundation very near the curb, for children, the aged or anyone at all to trip over and fall into the street. If one was hurrying, one might well end up under the wheels of the bus. All that needed to be done here was to remove the four nuts holding the base in place, remove the base and then with a metal cutting blade saw the protruding bolts level with the concrete. A professional worker could perform the job in minutes. But the LACMTA's failure to supervise its' workers or contractors results in the situation depicted above. Worse yet, is the LACMTA's failure to see what has to be done.

How will the LACMTA solve this problem? Well, the LACMTA will hold a series of meeting over months and then likely forget about the problem.

Your Mole proposes this solution: Whenever a training bus is covering a route, on the first and last trip of route training, the operator being trained and the trainer would both alight at each stop and check it for safety. Both parties would fill out a bus stop safety report. That way new operators would be indoctrinated into a culture of safety and know how to report bus stop safety issues; the experienced trainer would add to his/her knowledge and be able to discuss issues he/she had seen with their trainee.

Brilliant idea Mole! Hardly that, but it is logical thinking.

The Sign Most Dreaded by LACMTA Riders!♪

One can't find a loo when they are most needed! Does anyone really believe that the LACMTA management really cares? After all, they just tell their chauffeur to pull into the nearest coffee shop so that they can have a "break".

They are going to spend $8,000,000 on a few new restrooms and the rehab of a few more at Union Station! When will those restrooms be ready? La Taupe's estimate: it will be a couple of years and the restrooms in Union Station will likely be out of service for a long while too.

AWARDS ARE NOT GIVEN, THEY ARE EARNED!

This seems to be a proper place to make an award to the LACMTA for their weak, ineffective attempts, if any, to provide for the comfort, convenience, safety of their ridership while providing them with value for their money. See the award below, enlarged for easier viewing.

1/4096th Star (The Mote)♪

This is the easiest award to win. It requires almost no effort.

The fractional five star award♪

This is awarded for the LACMTA'S unparalleled efforts in vitiating Los Angeles transportation.

How BBB Gets It Done!♪

This worker, using a high pressure delivery system leaves a clean, really clean bus stop. Not like the messes found at LACMTA Transportation Centers, such as ITC!And at the many filthy bus stop around the city. Well ITC was cleaned up, kind of, but the outlines of the gum blobs were retained. How about a do0over with a higher pressure hose?

BBB has Nextbus!♪

This is not related to the Office of Incredible Ineptitude, but rather another BBB work product which serves to show how a more honest transportation provider names their supplier's product, i.e., correctly, viz., "nextbus" and they kept the stop numbers and texting in place as a benefit for its ridership.

While the LACMTA, sneakily, er, covertly did away with the many, if not most, of the stop numbers without offering a word of explanation.

Nextbus on my iPhone, it's GREAT!♪

I simply opened the nextbus.com site using my browser, it took over asked permission to use my location, which permission I granted and voilà; I was presented with all the bus availability at stops within reasonable walking distance of my position. Shown above is on the first screen of several. importantly, there is no need for an "app", because since Tim Cook stopped updating my iPhone at iOS6 which then froze all my apps, which, although had updates available, they were denied to me. When this iPhone fails, I'm going with Samsung!

The nextbus.com site, a valuable tool!♪

But, where there is the will, there is a way. Su Topo visited the nextbus page at Next Bus: Using the drop down menu; set the bus route number to 130 (Or your desired choice of the route; selected the stop that I have used and will be using at some other time in the future, to Hawthorne Blvd and Artesia and voila, the stop number "00147" was filled in for me.Now I can note that stop number and its location in my agenda and soon I will have reconstructed the subset of stop numbers which I require.It would had been much easier if the LACMTA, stupidity, er, I mean, with lack of intelligence, had not rushed to waste money and removed the stop number signs which had cost quite a bit to install in the first place.

That way the numbering system would have had relevance far into the future. it could been adapted to emergency services, 911 reporting when an incident occurs away from numbered houses or people have trouble pronouncing local street or intersection names.

Stenciling the numbers on the bus flag is economical and efficient - if you know what your Mole means. But no,the LACMTA seems to act before it thinks.

Torrance Transit Uses NextBUS Too!♪

That is how we can tell that the LACMTA have made an error; because everyone else is using Nextbus texting and the LACMTA have removed most of their bus stop numbering signs.

LDOT has nice Stop Numbers!♪

This is the way the LACMTA should have done it. Fast, simple and understandable.

Metro's Flag a revés♪

At sea, a vessel in distress will fly its' flag upside down. It is only right that, given the dysfunctional LACMTA, we should fly Metro's flag in that manner.

In this section it is su Topo's intention to call your attention to situations which he has observed that highlight the "LACMTA Way" of doing things.

An homage for her "contribution" to L.A. transportation.

Your Mole would like the former head of LAWA remembered for her "contribution" to Los Angeles area public transportation. She was quicker than her contemporary, the former bus driver and former head of the LACMATA, to implement the lucrative FlyAway service and discouraged all attempts, however feeble, to bring other modes of transportation to LAX.

Too, we should memorialize her attitude vis-à-vis public transportation directly to LAX in following the transportation direct-to-airport access pattern used by many, if not most, world-class airports, to wit, "you go under the airport, it is fraught with problems, ...”[hardly a get it done attitude!].

The Mole readsΩ the papers and other things, obviating the necessity of your doing so.

Where available, links to the cited reporting is provided in “Works Cited”, Vide infra. Please use the links to read the complete articles because your Mole can only include "fair use" portions.

County Supervisor, Janice Hahn, is a seasoned politician and the member of a political family who understands what public service means. I believer she should head the LACMTA and then things should quickly change. Even from her position as a LACMTA board member she is effective. Take the case of the buses which burst into flames and where pretty much concealed from the public and maybe from board members as well . Supervisor Hahn acted decisively. She issued a press release titled "Supervisor Hahn Seeks Full Investigation and Replacement of Buses after KCBS Report on Burning Metro Buses in South Bay"We want to thank Supervisor Hahn for for allowing us to link to her Press Relase which embeds a link to the KCBS Television report. we also salute KCBS for breaking this important story! La Taupe studied the Times for its' follow-on coverage, but ... .This important story was "buried", is that the right word? Close enough. few of us want to be immolated in a bus fire which could have been easily prevented. However KCBS reporterDavid Goldstein covered the story and reinforces your Moles' reading of MV Transportation, who had custody of the seven buses which burned and another 45 still in use. Mr. Goldstein is to be congratulated for his hard work!The Times reveals(Nelson) that a Los Angeles City/LACMTA effort is not going smoothly. The Los Angeles Times reveals(Nelson) that another of the LACMTA's and the City of Los Angeles dreams have encountered a "road block".Ms Nelson writes: “The advocacy group Fix the City argued in a complaint filed Thursday that Los Angeles should not have approved the Expo Line density plan without first assessing and fixing West L.A.’s “overburdened and inadequate infrastructure.”“In addition to rutted streets and broken sidewalks, West L.A. residents are facing some of the city’s slowest response times for fire and medical emergencies, according to Fix the City. The group had a retired captain from the Rancho Park fire station review the analysis, [Laura] Lake, [a member of Fix the City’s board] said.”“The hope is that creating more housing along the Expo Line, and streets that feel more pedestrian-friendly, will help residents run errands and get to work without getting behind the wheel.”This is a City of Los Angeles plan but it seems to follow the LACMTA’s usual approach, build then plan!

Rapid Mass transit demands density and the Line Expo is definitely NOT rapid transit! The people who live in these buildings are occupied mostly by condo dwellers rather than apartment renters. Los Angeles is NOT New York City and it will never be New York City. Is it any wonder that the LACMTA has bee faced with declining ridership over the years? However, IF, note the big IF, the LACMTA could provide first-class rapid transit a ridership might develop. But its' inability to learn how to do that over YEARS, portends a poor future. Layer on the LACMTA's insensitive, punitive treatment of the ridership it does have (won't sell day passes on board buses, developed a "new" transfer system that has lots of undiscovered gaps, employs bus drivers that can't position their buses an easy step away from the curb at a bus stop, employs drivers, when asked to add money, to be used to transfer to a muni bus, to a TAP Card plead ignorance of the method, etc., etc., means that the WOM (word-of-mouth about "service" is BAD.

I spoke to a construction worker at the Expo Line Sepulveda Station as we were both leaving for the day and asked him (pointing to the structure to the north of the platform) are those apartments or condos?” He laughed and replied, “We don’t build apartments anymore!”.

The point being if one can buy a $500,000 condo, one certainly owns a car (a Beamer?) and not much will entice a person out of her car. I would estimate the Expo line’s typical ridership is composed of approximately 80% renters.That ridership will not be living in these units!

For the past several months your Mole has been focused on the problems of the Expo Line, in addition to not being rapid transit, in the "Mole rides" (vide infra)

The Times reports (Nelson²) that the LCMTA will miss its 2019 opening for the Crenshaw Line. Ms Nelson writes: “A $2-billion light-rail line that will add a key north-south connection to Los Angeles County’s growing transit network is facing several construction problems and will not open next year, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.”I know that my readers were shocked as I was to find that the LACMTA has missed a project deadline. The article also prepares us for a budget miss as well, so please read this detailed article.

The Times covers (Vartabedian) the latest estimated jump in costs (+11 Billion) to build the southern portion of the “Bullet Train”.

La Taupe won’t quote much of Mr. Vartabedian’s work, just enough so that you will want to read the entire piece.

“The reports acknowledge that the new cost estimates could affect the $77-billion price tag of the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system, though they also use a different methodology than previous figures and are therefore, not directly comparable.” [emphasis added, Mole]

“Over the three sections, the potential costs amount to a 50% surge from the business plan estimates released in February.”

The more su Topo reads about this project the stronger become his feelings that the whole thing should be rolled back to zero and contracted out to the best bid/proposal from the Germans and/or the Japanese.

The CHSRA people are trying to teach themselves how to build bullet

trains and end up caroming from one error to another. As if things are not difficult enough.

The Los Angeles Daily News covers (City) yet another vehicle accident which affected the Gold Line. The story includes these facts: "A big rig crashed onto the Metro Gold Line tracks in Pasadena Thursday, Nov. 22, and disrupted train service between the Allen and Sierra Madre Villa stations for close to nine hours.""The crash occurred at 1:55 a.m., causing no apparent damage to the track’s overhead lines, according to Metro spokesman Brian Haas. Metro re-opened the Gold Line just before 11 a.m., cancelling the bus bridge that had been running between the Lake and Sierra Madre stations, he said.“While the semi did not damage the tracks or overhead power equipment, it did destroy a signal case, which helps regulate the speed and spacing of the trains,” [Metro Spokesperson] Haas said."It is time for the LACMTA to begin to build dual-purpose barriers to protect its passengers. The next crash may cause injuries and/or deaths. Properly built barriers can mitigate the atrocious noise levels experienced when a platform is built in the center of a freeway, and prevent vehicle incursions into the track area.The Times reports (Reyes-Velarde) that a killing occurred aboard a Metro Gold Line train.Ms Reyes-Velarde writes: “Authorities received reports of a stabbing about 11:30 a.m. at the Gold Line’s Irwindale station, said Ramon Montenegro, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Transit Services Bureau.”You Mole has heard various reports from an LACMTAspokesperson. on KNX1070NewsRadio .The reports developed over time and I can only paraphrase the three versions which I heard.V1: we've only had two murders in three years.V2. The system is safe, but we're adding "security".V3: Even one death is too much, we're adding security.These three versions are from memory so these are NOT verbatim recitations. It's radio folks, these were short statement and I was neither expecting the announcements nor ready to transcribe.How should one categorise these statements?V1 - DEFENSIVE.V2 - SOOTHING - everything is OK, but security is coming.V3 - We're kind of SORRY but, not sorry enough to say something like "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim and his family".Your Mole will try to find a transcript and include it next month; but, please don't hold your breath as the LACMTA likely doesn't want this sort of thing in circulation. I don't blame the spokesperson, unless he also wrote the material; in which case I hope that he has his C.V. current. Adding security at this pon is like locking the barn after the horse has been stolen!. isn't it?L.A. Biz. tell us (Ellingson) about Elon Musk's latest efforts.Ms Ellingson writes: “The Boring Co.’s giant underground drill, named after the character in the Samuel Beckett play who never arrives [Godot], broke through into a vertical shaft near SpaceX’s Hawthorne, California, headquarters on Friday, according to footage tweeted by SpaceX and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) chief Elon Musk.”

The Last Mile? Perhaps on the route to the E.R.?♪

The headline from Cnet, tells the story! the article is available here.Those who hype scooters, and other pavement hogging devices operated by, for the most part, people who don't care much for the rights of others OR those who profit from the rentals of such device. Your Mole is always concerned for the welfare children ,who, although waling hand-in-hand with a parent, my break away and be struck by a scooter or a like device (it happens to adults too).Thank you to Cnet.com for allowing us to share this important article!While the topic is around street safety, let's just consider the streets of Los Angeles and how dangerous they are to pedestrians. It seems as not a day goes by without people, often children, being fatally being struck by an automobile. Consider just these few tragic examples, which occurred over the past month or so: a grandmother pushing her grandchild's stroller across a street both are killed, by a hit-and-run driver; 14 year-old girl is killed by a hit-and-run driver;A bicyclist was stuck and killed by a hit-and-run driver.La Taupe frequently experiences a situation where a driver will attempt to bully a pedestrian in the crosswalk by racing his engine, or rolling toward him, or just accelerating into the crosswalk daring the pedestrian to keep walking.Here is a brief paragraph about the law:California Vehicle Code §21950 states, “The driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection. ... Additionally, this law doesn't give motorists free-reign to disregard pedestrians.Los Angeles has a plan to eliminate all traffic deaths by 2025!

VISION ZERO.♪

How are they doing? Not well! It might be a good home-work assignment for anyone planning to visit Los Angeles soon or during the future Olympic Games to do some research. The results will focus your mind as you cross streets here.

A hint: Cross streets during daylight hours when light is sufficient and most people are sober.

This Mole is a careful observer and he has some considered advice for the policy makers in Los Angeles:

Increase police presence at dangerous (almost any) intersections. Ensure that LOTS of citations are issued to those who violate V.C. §21950.

Increase the fines for failure to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk, the minimum should be $500 per person who was in the crosswalk at the time of the incident. Second violation? $1000 per person who was in the crosswalk at the time of the incident. Third violation? three (3) full years in prison and loss of licence for an additional 5 years.

The secret is to get these potential killers of the streets! Not to have cheery talks about the "Vision".

A starting place? (1) In Torrance at Hawthorne Blvd and Torrance Blvd; also at Torrance Blvd and Madrona Ave.(2) In Manhattan Beach at the Sepelveda and Artesia intersection. Not only is the traffic threatening, but one can hardly take two steps into the crosswalk and the walk light starts flashing red!

But please don't take this Mole's word for it! Have Parents and Teachers from the various schools submit their "dangerous intersection" reports and have vision Zero staff direct these reports to the various policing agencies so that an enforcement plan can be formulated.

Another Out Of Service Fare Box♪

This Mole has seen numerous Fare Box Failures and can only see problems with a fare box which fails to flag TOSB as valid resulting in the creation of an invalid transfer situation which will be totally uncontrollable by the passenger. And will result in that passenger paying full fare on a Muni Bus instead of a transfer fare.Usually farebox OOS (Out Of Service) conditions are noted in a special section (below). Beginning with this issue, because an out of service farebox can negatively affect ones transportation; One will likely not be able to add funds to one's Tap Card and will therefore not be conditioned for a transfer; because the TOSB flag (as discovered when I reverse engineered the LACMTA's poorly designed and ineptly implemented transfer "system") will not be set in transfer mode.

Farebox OOS conditions noted during the month.

Date Route/Direction Bus #

2018-10-22 234/NB 25088

2018-10-11 234/SB 11015

2018-10-06 125/EB 10054

2018-10-03 234/SB 11059

2018-11-20 344SB 6068Direction codes are as follows: NB=North Bound; EB=East Bound; SB=South Bound; and WB=West Bound. These four compass points are as accurate as I can report.

In reality, there are many more Fare boxes OOS than indicated above; however, each one of these buses are unlikely to be repaired on the same day and will affect transfers for quite a few people. This Mole will be more attentive to these conditions than he has been in the past when the conditions meant, mainly, free rides, due to the inability to collect the fares.

The LACMTA also has a propensity to create mounds of waste paper by printing colourful material and stocking the bus racks with it, where much of it goes unread and likely unrecycled!This TOSB "System" seems to be even less supported by documentation than the no-brainer simple "All door Boarding" which has been ramping up for months; in spite of the fact that it was piloted on the Silver Line (It's a Bus Folks!) during the summer of 2016.Also , seemingly ignored by the LACMTA are any and all fall back procedures intended to cover system failures; not to mention that monies extracted from Tap Cards may represent invalid amounts (Full fares vs a transfer fare). The only fair and equatable process would be to treat any unclear conditions as a valid transfer and extract the minimum amount no matter where the fault lies. To do otherwise is an attempt to balance the books on the backs of the ridership.It is correct to restate the fact the the LACMTA shares its' "Measure M" windfall generously with the Muni operators so, that the fairest of all options would be to recognise Metro Tap Cards as a FREE TRANSFER, especially since the LACMTA is foregoing the not insubstantial transfer payments it has collected for years —which payments represent a "double dip" once from our sales tax payments to the Muni Operators and now to the Muni operators directly, as transfer payments. I can foresee an LACMTA plan to stop sharing "the "measure M" funds with the Muni operators on the basis that the Muni operators are being paid directly for transfers by passengers.La Taupe is boycotting the new transfer "system" and using only METRO. If enough people would do this the LACMTA would hear our voices and with a lot of luck our our part react to their underhanded handling of the day pass and transfer issues.Under the rubric "Documenting a poverty of the imagination":

On the morning of 2018-09-19 I listened as KNX1070 NewsRadio (1070 AM) explained that the LACMTA was running out of colors to use in naming their Toonerville Lines. The announcer explained that he couldn't see how that would be possible, because boxes of Crayolas contained 64 colours. Here, is a link to KNX.

Apparently the LACMTA plans meetings to try to figure out what to do. This is so like the LACMTA to present a problem rather than a solution.Here is a link to the subway system in the Big Apple.They use numbers and letters, how brilliant. I'll bet that the LACMTA head aches are easing already! You're welcome! La Taupe looked over the annotations he made while reading and thought that this was especially appropriate (Caro) in speaking about about transportation planning: "Even before the war [WWII] urban planners had begun to see that building more traffic facilities would not in itself cure traffic congestion. ... [T]he regional Plan Association had been saying it since 1929 ... —that the movement of people and goods [required a balanced transportation system, one in which construction of mass rapid transit facilities kept pace with the construction of roads. bold emphasis/underline - Mole] ‡

Ωand sometime listens to various broadcasts.

The LACMTA's Own Crumbling Infrastructure♪

Elevator at the Harbour Freeway Busway Station

Note the filthy condition of this elevator. The LACMTA never seems to fix or clean anything.

One can also listen on kxlu.com at Pacific Time or at the UTC day/time noted, record the broadcast if you can. Su topo uses VLC) to Record Internet broadcasts for a more convenient listening time. Here is is an example of the musical genre heard onSeranata de Trios. Aqui esSerenata Inolvidable con Los Grandes Tríos Vol 6 Muchas Gracias a Discos Completosfor the upload, and thank you to youtube.com for allowing us to present this music!

¡Muchas gracias a Serenata de Trios y KXLU for their terrific music and inspiration!

Again, Thank you youtube.com for allowing us to listen to all this beautiful music!

Metro Area – Lower your expectations!♪

Inured? You'd better be inured if your only transportation is Metro! Look at the rear of this bus and see that the prescient graffiti artists have warned you about the future of Los Angeles transportation.♪

The Mole rides again so that you don't have to go through a drill like football players stepping in tyres as you try to debus through a maze comprised of large trash bags full of odoriferous cans and plastic bottles.

The arrow inserted by your Mole indicates that this bus has Wi-Fi on board. Su Topo will update you as he gains some experiences with it. This month he has been aboard few buses with Wi-Fi availability or his tris were to short. N.B., in spite of the usual propensity of the LACMTA to hype everything from the rooftops. the LACMTA have been preternaturally quiet about this.

As I noted the Wi-Fi decal displayed on board buses, La Taupe has attempted to connect to the Wi-Fi. First of all the initial group of Wi-Fi buses numbered 150 out of a total of 2,472 (as of 2009). Numerically this represents less than seven percent. It is still discouraging that recently, la Taupe has experienced a 100% failure rate. Out of two buses that advertised (had a Wi-Fi decal posted) No bus presented an access point for connection, much less progressed to the Internet connection phase.

Free Wi-Fi Few and Far Between!.♪

2018-11-27 I establish a good connection on a 704 bus, but this has been a rare occurrence. Many buses advertised its availability, via the decal (photo above) but failed, as noted below,and did not deliver in Fact no Access Point responded.

On November 10th Bus Number 8461 No A.P. (access Point) connection and later in the day, the same situation obtained aboard Bus number 8647!

Has the LACMTA given up on another "dream"? Or has the Decal affixing team got ahead of the electronics team? Or ???.

2018-11-04: I ride a 740 Rapid bus and found the driver unconcerned about his safety because he left lots of slack in his seat belt. Su Topo added an arrow to show it; but you will have a better view by enlarging the photo by clicking on the it.

No FARE = NO RIDE

2018-11-05: While planning a business trip to Las Vegas, I came across the photo (shown above) which is the Las Vegas RTC (Regional Transportation Commision of Southern Nevada) handles "Free Riders) as opposed to the LACMTA's giving away the store policy!

2018-11-06 It is Mid-Term Election Day in California. I listen to a radio news broadcast; an LACMTA spokesperson tell us that voters will be given a free ride to the polls today. He goes on to say that that many of Metro's passengers have low incomes so this will help them!

If they really wanted to help the LACMTA would continue to sell day passes along with paper transfers on board buses. The LACMTA has cause its low-income ridership to spend even more money on transportation than just a few months ago!In spite of the LACMTA's spokesperson's platitudes, the LACMTA gives little thought to its financially squeezed ridership's experiences aboard Metro!

2018-11-15: The graffitists have struck again, modifying the information board on my bus. They have done an excellent job; The photo is shown above. However I don't believe that a letter dropped out of a bus window will ever be read by the LACMTA, nor for that matter, will one send by any other means.

Biohazard On Board Warning.♪

This is the kind of warning that should be required on board all Metro Buses.♪

That way, passengers would be advised of the unkempt homeless, the recyclers whose hands touch everything after first dipping into rubbish bins.

Night On An Expo Line Platform.♪

2018-11-09 On an Expo Line platform. It is about 17:30 and very dark as one can see in the photo (abpve). Apparently the LACMTA couldn't (SURPRISE!) get their act together and time the lights to come on at dark. They were probably set go on/off at specific times rather than by how light/dark it is and the organisation lacks institutional memory! I was really dark and dangerous near the platform's edge too!2018-11-14: In ear to the road mode, su Topo has found that the buses which have been burning, seven since 2015, have been suprise!, operated by M V Transportation which operates the rolling stock which sounds and feels like riding in a barrel full of nuts and bolts, driven by drivers which seem to have limited training and all too often little grasp of their relationship to passengers.Free rides are often the rule as fare boxes are out of service and people are waved aboard "gratis" because of a failure in the driver credentialing due to human and/or system failures.Your Mole knows first hand that complaining directed to their Dallas, TX (a great city!), HQ are ignored. While the LACMTA cannot assure that rubbish bins are properly emptied much less establish and enforce "Best Practices" for its contractors.

Biohazard On Board.♪

2018-11-17 on board a 40 Line bus; The miasma which emanates from the several large trash bags brought aboard this bus by an obviously homeless person, is disgusting. His hygiene, as well, is much below standard. We are being exposed to bio-hazards being propagated by the can and bottle collector's hands, clothing and possessions. this would seem to be a case for prohibition of the carriage of persons so encumbered. That is, if we had either a proactive transportation management or a proactive board of health. Don't you agree, Mr. Washington?

Oops, we forgot the STOP#, maybe we'll add it later or maybe not?♪

2018-11-21: One can not view the work of the LACMTA and not be critical! There is virtually nothing that they can do that will ultimately be rated as fifth rate. A place was left for stop number so that this stop can be used to text for arrival times. Yet this piece of the puzzle may not know what a STOP# number is, much less how it is used. This is just another intimation of the dis-functionality of the LACMTA!

Expo Line Platform Cracking Up.♪

2018-11-24: Slightly more than two (2) years after this segment of the Expo Line was opened (2016-05-20) and we can see a portion of the platform which is veined with cracks! Good Job LACMTA!

2018-11-24: It's Saturday and your Mole is in Westwood, near UCLA, hoping to ride a 734 bus to the San Fernando Valley; disappointment one the 734 Rapid bus runs only on Mon~Fri; disappointment two The same seems to apply to the slower 234 Line. (you may have to click and then click again on the photo above to share in la Taupe's disappointment.

Fortunately, some kindly Spanish speaking ladies stopped by to catch the 602 bus and assured su Topo that —in spite of the error in the LACMTA signage— the bus did run on Saturdays and soon enough it came along.

Just up from a nap on an Expo Line Platform.♪

2018-11-26: I captured this photo just after the lounger awoke, got up and stretched.

Britain's NHS (National Health Service is predicting the worst flu season in history.

Yet the LACMTA seems to be sitting on it's hands. rather than being proactive. La Taupe believes that every bus and rail car should have, at minimum, several copies of this posterproduced by the Minnesota Department of Health (Bravo!). Every classroom, library and other areas where people congregate should also post copies.

Please note that the poster also coves the important task of hand washing or, hand sanitizing when you are on-the-go and can't get to a basin.

Here is a hand washing poster for children, it works for adults too. Some recommend that, while scrubbing, one hums or sings "Happy Birthday" twice to do a proper job.

On buses, people either sneeze freely or into their palms, then touch EVERYTHING. Los Angeles seems to be the worst city for this sort of thing and the LACMTA does nothing. Let's prevent and eliminate these zoonotic diseases.

Your Mole wishes everyone good health and asks that you print the poster and give it wide exposure. Thank you!

Mr. Washington, every bus and rail car should have at least one, as this promises to be a very bad flu season!

Improvised Loo at the LAXCBC.♪

If the LACMTA doesn't provide the facility the ridership will work it out!This post has not been left in place by accident. I am continuing to develop it; but want readers to find the coverage in one place. [Mole]2018-07-24: Past 09:00, La Taupe takes a ride on the Expo Line.The first barrier to pleasant ride n this very hot day is the lack of an escalator. Your Mole chants to himself; One step "Cheap", next step "Bad Word" and repeat.

Chanting Stairway♪

The view after reaching the top, at the bottom is the slowest elevator in the world.

The rail cars used the Expo line are crowded and coffin-like; I can easily touch the ceiling. All along the trip they were announcing bus lines available at each station: Big Blue Bus #8, Culver City #3, etc. Further, the aisles are incredibly narrow; they measured 63.5 cm (25 inches) side of seat to side of seat. It would be rare for two adult Americans to be able to pass side by side! Just another money-saving artifice employed by the LACMTA.When we reached Sepulveda Station, the only station which had Metro buses available, not a word was said. In things great and small the LACMTA is simply NO GOOD!

Flags exposing the secret Buses available at Expo-Sepulveda Station♪

This is the OFFICIAL LAYOVER POSITION.

These buses, unannounced on the train, are waiting over a block away from the station and are partially concealed. The wait for the layover to end lasted almost 15 minutes without any benches upon which to rest, after standing for the whole trip! The location of these buses is illogical! The stop should be much nearer the station so as to avoid the long walk on hot or rainy days; covered benches should be provided. This review of the Expo Line, undoubtedly applies in various degrees to stations on other Lines.

Longish Walk to the Buses♪

This photo, taken from the corner of Sepulveda & Exposition BLVDs allows one to estimate the distance to the bus layover point, where one boards, is just beyond where the footway curves to the left. On the walk one must maintain an alert attitude in order to compete with bicyclists, Bird (Electric Scooter) users while walking. Click the photo for an enlarged view.

The View Back towards the station from the Expo Line Bus stop♪

Here, looking back towards the Expo Line Sepulveda Station, which station is not even visible, it seems a long way away.

A Comfortable bench provided by the LACMTA upon which to rest for the 20 minutes or so one must wait for a bus.

It's true! The bench is really an overturned shopping cart because the LACMTA never gives a though to making things comfortable to its; ridership.

Here are some Condos being built near Expo Sepulveda♪

These units are very near the bus stops and in front of the condos.♪

Note the trash, which is easily viewed from the condos.

Here is more trash, near the bus stops/ and in front of the condos.

Bus "stop" blocks from the Expo Line Station♪

This bus is "laying over"at least a bus length or more behind the proper layover position. 12 Page Ups will show you the layover position; located in front of this bus.

When planning to ride these buses (those identified on the "flag" 12 Page Ups) one must take care not to be left behind. The driver may/may not give you a hand sign that means (to him at least) that you should move to the Layover point to board. The reason they layover here is so that they can take their breaks without prospective passengers knocking on doors and windows to ask "When do you leave?"; thereby interrupting break time".

Solution? Simple! Implement a countdown timer in the head sign. It would display, for example: This bus will leave in 9 minutes and 48 seconds ... .

Countdown Timer.♪

2018-09-23 AM: I ride the Expo line: While waiting for the Train, I'm treated to this view.

Recycler's Bike - View I♪

How would you like to ride in the same car as this person? Not much, I'll wager.

Then I boarded the train and found my way forward blocked by a sleeper with half his body in a seat on one side of the aisle and the other half of his body on a seat on the other side of the aisle. I had to step on a seat and maneuver myself over and past him. As I've often said, there is usually not even a hint of security aboard these trains.

2018-09-23 Aboard a 234 bus to the Expo Line Sepulveda station. As the bus pulls up to the stop at the Pico and Sepulved intersection the ASA reports "Connection to the Expo Line". The same TWO ASAs are heard on the 734 Line.

The announcments are made at Points 1. and 2. in the map shown below.

Pico and Sepulveda.♪

While point 1. to point 2. is a walkable distance, why should one walk because his transportation agency is too stupid, er, unable to synchronise the ASA with the correct geographical location. The drivers must notice this confusing condition, and they could easily report it. So why are no changes implemented? Your Mole's response: Because when one is positioned at a fifth-rate level, it is very difficult to improve. You may note that the Pico and Sepulveda intersection is the one that couldn't be located when searching by intersection; which was covered last month along with the famous Pico & Sepulveda song.

"Furniture" at the Green Line Mariposa Station.♪

2018-10-06 Morning: This well worn "furniture" at the Green Line Mariposa Station may look avant-garde, but it is certainly NOT comfortable as a chair!

Bike one on the Expo Line during my ride.♪

2018-10-07 Morning: The cramped, coffin-like interior of the Expo Line cars seem even smaller when people people wedge their bicycles into available space.

Bike two on the Expo Line during my ride.♪

Exactly what characterises a fifth-rate organization. La Taupe with like to answer pictorially.

2018-10-07 Morning: The Fare box on this bus is out of service. No fare box in operation means that: 1) No cash can be added to your Tap Card, 2) even if you have a Tap Card balance it is questionable as to whether a transfer can be effectuated. This is my conclusion because of the lack of the system details for "Transfer On Second Boarding", which remains UNDEFINED!Speaking of fare boxes I spoke to a M.V. Transportation Supervisor and asked him if his maintenance department was having difficulties keeping fare boxes in operation, because I was being waived through without tapping MANY times. He replied: "No, it was because we can't get operator's credentials cleared fast enough". This meant that the new operators could drive but not perform fare box functions, such as: adding to the Tap Card balance; accept cash fares and etc. I couldn't understand why people with Tap Card Passes could't Tap in??The bottom line is that M.V. Transportation which is paid a PILE of money to contract bus lines yet, is costing the LACMTA what this Mole believes , based on the many "wave through" he sees and the big smiles on his fellow passenger's faces when they end up saving $1.75. This has the strong look and feel of Breach of fiduciary on the part of LACMTA management. Or at minimum, poor management. Doesn't it Mr. Washington?2018-10-15 before 10:00: The tiny Expo Line cars are tremendously crowded this morning! In Los Angeles the Toonerville Trolley platforms are NOT EXTENSIBLE , Unlike platforms in Japan which are reasonably easy to extend so that additional rail-cars can be added to a train; this increases the carrying capacity of a train. The basic problem in Los Angeles is that few have the experience, much less the mental capacity to deal with problems; original design als incorporated problem which were not anticipated until the lines grew.The Expo Line is an excellent example of poor design. Often the trains approach a given station from grade level, climb a man made hill then arrive at a level station. the platform cannot be extended backward because backward is part of the upgrade portion of the man-made hill; forward is the down grade portion of the man-made hill. This is a result og the overly cheap build approach, i.e, not building a line as aerial and level. Make all lines elevated rapid transit would have meant deterministic travel times vs stopping for at grade signals. And the after portion of a station would be level track; the platform could be extended backward, forward or both simply by pouring new concrete for the platform; and then making up longer trains! But with the LACMTA comprised of politicians, all with agendas not oriented towards building RAPID TRANSIT. Their only option is adding complete trains with a requirement for added staff, scheduling etc.The resultant build out of the Toonerville Trolleys with the overriding concern being CHEAP, foreclosed the option of platform extension and the composition of longer trains.

No growth in train length? OOPS!

The LACMTA is crying all the way to the bank.

Which is the "real" Line 117 bus stop?!

Is it the one, with the "flag" in the foreground? Or is it the one with the bus bench in the background? (Click twice on the photo for an enlargement.)

The answer is not straightforward. The background, showing the bus bench is more-or-less the original bus stop (minus flag) as it existed before the years long work on Century Blvd began.

My only guess is that the LACMTA, having a humming-bird like memory sent out two crews to do the work the first crew was instructed to re-install the flag and they did so at the foreground location. The second crew was instructed to install a bus bench at the original location and they did so near the original location in the background.

The bus stop "flag" is the determinate of bus stops so the "real" bus stop is the one in the foreground. Whay would the do such a thing? The bus stop is named "Felton Avenue".Below is a map of the area (Thank you very much Google!).

Felton Ave at Century Blvd,, Inglewood, CA

Ler's make the assumption that the first team installed the "Flag" at the eastern boundry of Felton Ave and the second team installed the bus bench at the western boundry of Felton Ave., Then they both are right and they both are wron1 Will this situation ever be corrected so that on can be seated while waitng for a bus? Knowing the LACMTA as I do, perhaps not.

Another Filthy Bus stop!

2018-10-25: Another one of many, since the LACMTA either does not provide for bus stop cleaning OR just assumes that it is done properly and does nor supervise the contractors who are suppose to clean OR simply does nothing. In this case the mess has been created and left in place by been created by recyclers sorting through the rubbish bin and leaving what they don't want in a heap at the site.

2018-09-27 AM: Shows the pool at the bottom of the stairway, likely as a result of hosing down the platform. There are no escalators at this station, either.

Exit area of Green Line Hawthorne Station.♪

2018-09-27 AM: Note how the station is poorly maintained. The entire management structure might be charged with breach of fiduciary for allowing the physical plant an equipment become run down by failure to schedule periodic remedial and preventative maintenance.

Mr. Washington , please take your board of directors on a round trip ride from 7th/Metro to Santa Monica and back using the Expo Line. If they are not claustrophobic when they board, they will be by the trip's end. Ask then how they feel about the lack of public toilets and escalators.

To ensure that they enjoy the full experience go down to street level at Sepulveda Station. Walk West to a 734 bus stop, board and ride to Sepulveda and Santa Monica Blvds bus stop. Walk West from that bus stop for about a block and have a coffee at the Starbucks located at the corner. Then ride a 234 or 734 bus back to Sepulveda Station, eschew the elevator and briskly climb the stairway. continue on to Santa Monica and board the next train back to 7th/Metro. After boarding, ask everyone: "Are we having fun yet?".

2018-08-21 The first time to use the elimination of paper transfers system; Your Mole adds $1 to his TAP Card. As he boards a CCMBL bus and taps his card, he asks the driver how much they take from his TAP Card for the transfer. "I don know" is the driver's answer. So far su Topo is batting close to zero. Totally stonewalled by most concerned.

Here, in clear language, is your Mole's take on the LACMTA's plan for its' elimination of paper transfers. It is out of the transfer business! The passengers provide the money on their TAP Card and there is virtually no involvement for the LACMTA. Although they will transfer money to your TAP Card, if later on there is a failure on a Muni bus, the finger pointing will begin; no one has ANY VISIBILITY into the issue. For example, how much of the $1 is left on my card? I don't know! The Muni operator can't see your balance so he'll undoubtedly say that Metro didn't register your money. Metro will say "it Wasn't a transfer on second boarding" what ever that means. Are you going to spend thankless hours discussing your lost money with employees, perhaps ones scattered all over Los Angeles, to restore your lost money, I think not!I got the impression that the Toonerville Trolley/ subway TAP turnstiles displays the balance, so I will follow up on that. I have followed up (2018-09-30) and found the display shows the category of Tap Card (Regular) and expiry date. I asked an unusually cooperative bus driver if he could check my TAP "cash" balance and he confirmed that CCMBL, notwithstanding that the driver couldn't tell me if the system took the correct transfer amount, .75, from the card. I am not sure that all drivers will be so cooperative and have very little advise about what to do if your balance is incorrect. Basically, you could note the organization, bus route and direction along with the bus number of everything involved in the transfer. E. g., Metro 40 SB (South Bound) #9429, Torrance 8 SB #8103 - you could then, just before you tapped, ask the driver to report your TAP balance. and note that amount so that you will have a running balance. If Torrance bus took too much money —full Fare instead of .75, you could contact the Torrance Transit organization an hope ...But here is my solution in steps, 1. WILL NOT USE TRANSFERS and WILL NOT MAINTAIN A TAP BALANCE- that will disappoint the Muni agencies and keep them from charging you full fare for your ride.This is another politician cobbled together system without a thought to being user friendly. The paper system was user friendly, you paid the transfer fee, obtained a physical transfer and off you went without care in the world.Under the "munged" transfer system much has been overlooked. Such as, I believe that the poorly defined "transfer on second boarding" will become the excuse du jour. I see more occurrences of fare boxes out of service than I report in this blog. So what is the back up plan when a fare box fails to provide what is needed to be communicated so that the proper amount for the transfer is properly deducted from ones TAP Card cash balance? I do not believe that a process to cover the farebox out of service or operating incorrectly has been implemented! So this is the resulting process: You, the passenger must pay full fare. The people ensconced in the Taj Mahal, siting on fat chairs with their feet up on their desks will say: "Let 'em pay it, it's only a few bucks."Some one, with some free time can help us all out by submitting a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request to the LACMTA, along these lines:

LACMTA FOIA REQUEST

1. Explain in detail, in writing, the implementation of "Transfer on second boarding".2. Fill in the form below in detail the amounts by category BOLD and UNDERLINE any amounts where the amount is greater than the amount that Metro was charging for paper transfers. Q: "Will the price of transfers increase? A: "No".

AgencyTransfer cost deducted from the TAP Card's "stored value"

Regular Senior Student

Beach Cities ? ? ?

Big Blue Bus ? ? ?

Culver City ? ? ?

DOT Shuttle ? ? ?

Foothill Transit ? ? ?

Long Beach Transit ? ? ?

( Add, alphabetically an Muni Carriers who have been omitted from this list)

3A. Describe in detail, in writing, the procedures established to prevent the rider from paying more than the paper transfer cost.3B. Describe in detail, in writing, the rationale behind NOT implementing a receipting procedure. It costs too much is NOT an acceptable rationale.

3C. Describe in detail, in writing, the reason for removing Day Pass sales from buses and making them only available at rail stations. This removal is a punitive action against the people who rely on buses for the majority of their transportation needs. It slows down boarding is not an acceptable reason.

3D. Provide an answer , in writing, to this question: Is it true that once one uses a Muni transfer any Metro-to-Metro transfer stored on one's TAP Card is invalidated.Notes:

3C. Given multi-door boarding those who require fare box functions other than "TAPing in" can board through the rear door(s).

Eliminating Metro to Metro transfers, which is supported by many other agencies was a fare increase, which was addressed by the day pass. Now the day pass has been made more inconvenient to buy, is a de facto fare increase And people ask: Why is the ridership down? The logic of "transfer on second boarding" is no doubt implemented —GIVEN MY INCOMPLETE UNDERSTANDING and the fact that no one to whom I posed the question "What does "transfer on second boarding" mean? offered an answer— by a logical switch along these lines, the switch will be set to 1 if it is zero when boarding a Metro bus; if it is 1, at boarding, it will be set to zero. 1 take the mean of first boarding so when boarding a Muni bus, recognising a 1 means that you have had your "first" boarding on Metro, so this ride can count as a transfer, the TAP balance will be reduced by the amount of the transfer cost whatever that is, and the logical switch set to zero, preventing one from riding the next Muni bus as a transfer. ADVISORY: THERE MAY BE AS MANY THING WRONG WITH MY EXPLANATION AS THERE ARE WITH THE LACMTA's system. My intent is to attempt to understand an approach that might be used, rather than to divine the actual system functions. But I promise to develop my explanation as I learn more.

I read lengthy individual complaints about the TAP Card on-line and the fact that the LACMTA is holding over a $1,300,000"stranded" expired TAP Card balances, without an easy method of reclamation for the expired card holders (That was in 2015 in a piece by the LA Weekly). My guess is that by now the LACMTA may have a way to refund the .75 left on the old card; but you'll probably have to pay a $5 service fee, perhaps $4.25??

This bus poster was expired but a graffitist didn't mind♪

BETTER TOGETHER, OR NOT?♪

The graffitists have done a professional job of"tagging" this poster. We'll have to follow up on this because it appears to be a work in progress.

Bus Flags without Stop Number♪

This is just another example of quite a number of bus flags which don't have stop numbers indicated. The intention was to be able to text the Next Bus, oops, I mean the Next Trip system. This Mole will never understand the reason was it was renamed from the original developers and owners designation, Next Bus, to Next Trip.

2018-09-03: On board a bus: I meet two travelers from Stuttgart, Germany and help them negotiate paying fares on LACMTA buses

2018-09-05: @ the LAXCBC around 08:30: I meet a German family fromKaiserslautern, . We discuss various ways to travel around Los Angeles, and your maulwurfoffers his opinion. With this post, I'll attempt to provide links to the home cities of the nice people who this Mole is fortunate enough to meet.Here is a link to Kaiserslautern's attractions.

Dirty Track.♪

2018-09-27 afternoon at Hawthorne Station: There are no escalators here and the elevators often smell very bad; so your Mole trudges up that stairway, which doesn't smell so good here. The photo above shows that neither cleaning the track bed nor the platform (Mostly out of view) rates very highly in the LACMTA's maintenance routines.

2018-03-18 morning @LAXCBC♪

Underscoring the fact that there is no security anywhere in the LACMTA system, here we see someone sleeping into the morning. Over several days at the LAXCBC, I've seen several men micturating near or behind the on-site skip located in the north-east corner of LAXCBC. Of course there is never any security at the center to put a stop to this kind of behaviour.

﻿Reserved♪

As your Mole waits for a bus, he must stand because someone else has claimed the bus bench.

WHAT Bus an I aboard?♪

2018-09-07 at LAXCBC: Traffic is a real mess around LAX as people are still returning home from their L.A. visit.

This is the entry to the LAXCBC.♪

IT is remarkably uncluttered, of course, because I wanted a photo!♪

The writing in the street says "keep clear".

Here is su Topo's take on street markings for the LAXCBC ENTRY.♪

The yellow line painted on the pavement delineate a box that automobiles should not enter. That will allow buses to enter. Click the photo, once and then again so that you can read the the Keep Clear warning. Presently buses mus wait until traffic thins our or yields

The same marking should be used on the LAXCBC EXIT to eliminate the long waits experienced by buses which are blocked by traffic that refuses to yield.

La Taupe has written about this problem before with suggested markings and even a bust controlled signal light which would bring traffic to a halt. Prior Post Use a single page down to see the 2012 version than use the link, just a few line above the graphic, to see an aerial view of the LAXCBC's ENTRY.

2018-09-15. Afternoon aboard a 40 Line bus. Just before the bus arrives at the intersection of Hawthorne Blvd and Imperial Highway the ASA tells us that this is "a connection to the Green Line". The ASA is wrong! It is more than three blocks and possibly closer to three blocks away from the actual Green line stop. It is immediately in front of the Hawthorne/Lennox Station. The LACMTA has a difficult time doing things right.

With the LACMTA something is always in Failure Mode♪

2018-09-12 Before 08:00; Blue Line Platform: The arrival times are displaying BANGS (![Exclamination points]).

Early morning At the LAXCBC♪

Someone is enjoying an early morning nap at the LAXCBC. They are aware that they will never be awoken by a security patrol.

2018-09-21 @ 10:00, Aboard an East bound bus: I meet an tourist from the UK, London to be specific. I have a nice chat with him about Brexit which is in on the BBC and in the headlines today and a bit about football, his team is Liverpool.

He was incredulous when I explained about the 2 or 3 loos in the LACMTA system; this means that, for all intents and purposes we live in a Looless Los Angeles because most private businesses will not share their facilities with us either.

When you see what London has to offer tourists, we in Los Angeles must hang our heads!

You know, I do love London, mais j'adore Paris !

Stop Number as a Texting Artifact!♪

These signs are rarely seen these days. But they can be found by the careful observer.

Texting for the bus arrival times has been a highly hyped feature and now stop numbers seem to be disappearing from the flags?

Is this yet another case of the LACMTA becoming enamoured with something that is too costly, or requires too much maintenance to continue? Think TransiTV!

Your mole has theories: Either (1) they put signs up in the wrong order; (2) the texting load was to great for the LACMTA's IT infrastructure; (3) they found a way to charge for the service using an "app";

These signs keep reappearing, as if by magic?♪

And of one is to believe the Metro website♪

The section of a metro.net web page (above, highlighting - Mole) indicates that they are still installing stop numbers; yet many, many have just disappeared.

The highlighted section reads: We are making plans to place these numbers on our bus stop signs (flags - Mole) on the street.﻿

﻿

All that needs be done is to add stop numbers!♪

It appears that la Taupe has to do everything. Well here it is, a typical bus schedule, this one for the 102 line, which shows stop numbers which he added. The LACMTA will have no excuse for not having done this before the next "shakeup" (i.e., semiannual schedule change). Although every stop will not be available —as the schedule only shows timed points— one will still be able to estimate a given bus's time of arrival at a nearby stop. This will be true even when the schedule, is old because the stop numbers should not change.

2018-03-23 on board a southbound 740 bus: the woman behind me has been carrying on a "louder than necessary" cell phone conversation and I avoid it a best I can. Then she starts explain Los Angeles Mass transit: "The Rapid bus stops at major streets. The regular bus stops at every M. F-ing stop. If the rapid doesn't stop where you want it to, then you have to walk. If you don't wanna walk, then you have to ride the bus that stops at every M. F-ing stop. (she said the complete words).

Why is ridership down? Really, who would ride in such company if they didn't have to or they felt compelled to write a blog? :-)?

The worst ever trip that I have ridden is the 115 to/from Playa del Rey at going to or returning from school times. One can hear the N-word more times in half an hour than most people hear it in a life time. One can also hear quite a few other unpleasant words, as well. The drivers have to put up with a lot, too! ﻿

2018-03-24 aboard a southbound 740 bus: A woman boards and proceeds down the aisle opening windows as she goes. A man takes exception to her actions and says: "It's cold and I don't feel well" as he closes the window. She returns and opens the window again, he closes it. She asks: "I open it, you close it. Are we going to continue like that?" He replies, "yes". She responds: Nobody cares that you're sick , you old F...! Your mole thinks, if this woman didn't have bad manners, she would have none at all!

Meanwhile, the LACMTA wonders why ridership is down.

As promised here are la Taupe's estimate of the costs involved in affixing these texting Artifact signs and removing them. But no costs have been developed for replacing some of the signs??

Stop Number Signs Install & remove Costs♪

The above is portion of my spread sheet which shows your Mole's total estimatedcosts in US$ for the installation an partial removal (pictured above is a reinstalled signl).

There are 15,967 bus stops, along an estimated2,661 miles of bus routes, transportation and labor costs. I estimated that a 5 person crew could install 300 stop number signs per day, remove 600 signs per day and that there would be four of these crews in operation.

The LACMTA may say either (1) "we could never had done it so cheaply!" or (2) "He is way too high!" Or (3) An even larger figure if the work contracted. We will never know. But when your read (vide supra) about the $8,000,000 they plan to spend on two new and fixing up two or three existing toilets, they will probably say (3).One can find an excellent guide to Next Bus texting here. But wait, this is not produced by the LACMTA, it is the very professional work og the Houston TX Metro —I should have known! The LACMTA. for some inexplicable reason put up stop numbers and then took most of them down??

Promises Made♪

Promises Ignored

We now know that these promises have been ignored They have stopped numbering stops while suppressing that fact. However, according to their web site, they have a "Way" of texting intersections and finding arrival time*. It is shown below.

Please click on the image above, TWICE. to obtain the largest view. Now, it is virtually impossible to study anything done by the LACMTA without finding an error! In this case, THE SYMBOL that they inserted is definitely NOT an ampersand "&"!

Lets take a break and listen to a song about Los Angeles Street Names and a famous Los Angeles intersection.Thank you!, youtube.com and Loop66 for the upload.

I tried The LACMTA Way, using the pico & sepulveda intersection on my iPhone; here are the results. N.B. like many quriky things about iPhones, I had to hack my text screen shot which was a PNG file and too big?? to copy to my computer; I had the trim it and couldn't easily fit "stop" - so I photo edited "STOP." into the photo. My next cell phone will be a Samsung (Seven Stars in korean) :-).

Given that he couldn't reproduce their intersection bus stop sample, you can see what la Taupe means about the LACMTA's interminal "botching of things".

Crenshaw Line - Rapid Transit♪

This portion of the Crenshaw Line is rapid transit, i.e., grade separated (Manchester at La Brea).

Crenshaw Line - Mass Transit (In Process)♪

This portion of the Crenshaw Line is at grade (Arbor Vitae north of

Aviation) and therefore mass transit. It is a streetcar that will bring traffic on this busy street to a halt and possibly halt itself and definitely proceed at a reduced sped, after the barriers are lowered and then creep across the street.

At one time the LACMTA knew how to build rapid transit, example: the Green Line. They stopped building rapid transit when they felt that savingmoney was more important. A likely decision when you consider that LACMTA management almost never ride their system. It management rode the lines, all stations and bus centers would have restrooms!

If would be a good idea if the LACMTA would make up its mind —if it has one— about how it would deliver bus arrival announcements. By text message, no that seems to be mostly abandoned? By buttons, like the one shown above; no that seem an expensive way to do it, there seem to be very few of them and has the additional disadvantage of being exposed to vandalism.

I now use text and that seems to be the way the BBB and TT and others have adopted. From my computer I use NextBUS.com It produces an nice clean format as shown below.

Next Bus is GREAT!♪

At the bottom of the screen:

"Valid as of Monday, February 19, 2018 3:03 PM"

is displayed. One can perform the simple addition to determine that the next bus will show up at around 15:08 and the one after that at about 15:37.

For those who like maps, nextbus offers a map option as pictured below.

Next Bus Maps are GREAT, too!♪

Please visit the site and acquaint yourself with the agencies it serves in the United States. It travels well! :-)

Its alive!♪

Crenshaw Line, Expo Line (and other lines) as Mess Transit!

Combine rapid and mass Transit in one line and you have created Mess Transit.

Bringing better service to others, by bypassing you♪

So, equal taxation but unequal provision of service that is the LACMTA way. But it is time to bring an end to that approach. This Mole has commented on the Rapid service in the past. Pointing out that Rapid lines don't always stop when the cross other LACMTA lines, nor do they stop at county facilities, e.g., the excellent Los Angeles County Libraries. Why not? Well one could ask the Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Association.

So what if the line took six minutes longer but, some students could get to a library sooner. And while they're at it, stops should be added for LosAngeles City Libraries too!

This Is Not Rapid Transit♪

The photo above concretises the idea that the EXPO line will not deliver deterministic travel because, look at the signals and the traffic folks, it isn’t RAPID TRANSIT.

At one time the LACMTA knew how to build RAPID Mass Transit, viz. the Green Line. Take the Green Line ratio of aerial portions of the line to total length of the line, let's call this the Mole's Index of Rapidity [MIR in acronimic form].

For the Green Line the ratio is 100/100! Not so with other recently built lines; the Expo and Crenshaw Lines which both have lower indices of Rapidity. Any value less than 1 shows that determinate travel times are impossible. The overall MIR for the LACMTA's built portion in miles is 20/105 which is equal to 0.1904 ... much less than 1! The result is a fifth class transportation system; one befitting a third-world country.

Your Mole feels that by showing you month-by-month examples of the LACMTA's failures, you will come to see that throwing more money at this dysfunctional organisation is not the path to solution. It is a direct path to more money wasting by the LACMTA.he LACMTA seems exceedingly proud of their accomplishments: no doubt it is due to the fact that the never leave their Taj Mahal offices, visit their facilities and see their handiwork as we passengers do! Shown below are three scenes, all photographed during a 10~15 minute period from a Toonerville Trolley platform.

View from the bus stop♪

There are two reasons why bus stops in Los Angeles are so filthy; 1. most passengers would not extend their arms more than 20 Cm to reach a rubbish bin if their lives depended upon it; and 2. the LACMTA is incapable of supervising those who are paid to clean the bus stops and, as a result, do a fifth-rate job of it.

Incidentally, the man who is partially seen on the right of the photo above, spent the time we waited for a bus placing each shoe in turn, on the the bus bench seat while he polished his shoes.

Second opinion: Many passengers lack a sense of obligation to their fellow riders. this fellow didn't care if granny soiled her dress because of his thoughtlessness!

Views from the platform♪

Here is litter which passengers freely toss into the rail bed.♪

The same rail bed, different rubbish.♪

You can speculate as to, exactly, what this bit might be?♪

Expo Line Bus Stop with NO Rubbish Bin.♪

One needn't wonder why rubbish is ankle deep everywhere.

The push is on to complete projects before the Olympics come to Los Angeles, so that the traveling public an be amazed and delighted by Los Angeles fifth-rate transportation.

The LACMTA would much rather patch it up than build it correctly in the first place.

As an example. in the case of the Orange Line (It's a bus folks!) The plan to begin a seven year program to place crossing-gates at thirty-five intersections where streets cross the bus route.

Presently, the main safety feature is the bus driver. The effect will be to add additional an additional measure of safety while slowing the line.

What they should have done in the first place is build the route as aerial (elevated) rapid transit in the first place.

But these technical matters are decided by the politicians who make up the LACMTA board; they would rather make every possible mistake and then patch it up. This process inevitably yields a fifth-rate "system".

Eye (and Ear) to the Rail

Transit as unseen and unimagined by the LACMTA

The LACMTA (Subordinate to LAWA)

Presents

Every Which Way But Right!

OR

Four (OR Five) Seats to LAX!

OR

The LACMTA Tries Again; Asymptotically to LAX!

OR

Metro is the worst way from the City Center to the Airport, LAX, that is!

The purpose of this section is to make people aware that the LACMTA is not home to many problem solvers. I hope to accomplish this end by presenting the solutions adopted by other cities, some in foreign countries, in solving the city to airport rapidtransportation challenge.

Cautionary Note: Those employed by the LACMTA, LAWA or CHSRA should NOT viewthe following video(s). The speed of the train(s), the fact that they neither share the right of way nor stop at stop lights, because they are truly rapidtransit, will likely make you dizzy, nauseous, confuse and frighten you.

FINAL WARNING: N.B. LACMTA, LAWA OR CHSRA staff and management, avoidcognitive dissonance, DO NOT CLICKon THE LINK BELOW!

While the LACMTA attempts to hype its Toonerville Trolley system and CHSRA ponders the necessity of safety features, forward thinking planners in 2007 have already bullet trains at speeds in excess of those planned for California.This section has been devoted to pointing that the LACMTA is far behind the rest of the world in rapid transit. La Taupe has pointed out that fact on innumerable occasions. Their approach, rather than providing Los Angeles with a transportation legacy of which to be proud, prides themselves on building cheap, loo-less infrastructure. CHSRA struggles with its' "Bullet Train" technology of the past, while the rest of the world is building high-speed comfortable Mag-Lev trains or other fast variations.

Earlier this year the Conde Nast Traveler featured a special on "The 10 Fastest Trains in the World". It was written by Cynthia Drescher and dated 2018-03-27. It is a great piece and supported by some fantastic photographs.

We'd like to express our gratitude to the publisher of some of the finest magazines in the world‡: Merci bien à Conde Nast ! Thank you for allowing us to share this excelent article with the readers of my blog. lametromole.blogspot.com

Please note the the CHSRA's "Bullet Train" is not included in the trains presented and is unlikely to appear there in any reasonable time-frame. So please keep them away from this section of my blog, since it will only depress them.

‡Not to mention, lots of other literary efforts; including making movies and pod casts —two of my favorites are the New Yorker Radio Hour and Hive.

Cosmology

New Scientist in an article dated December 2015 asks the question "Is quantum physics behind your brain’s ability to think?" Please use this link to read the article.it is a fascinating topic! This is work by a leader in quantum field, so it should not be ignored.

Fare Box OOS and related Lists of Shame

I.D. Numbers of buses with Out of Service Fare Boxes: 2018-04-15; Bus #N/A Westbound 117 Line.

Note: No or few entries above do not necessarily mean all fare boxes are in operation.

I.D.Numbers of Distracted Drivers:xxxxx (i);

None included here, but observations of a minor nature may be included in the main posting;

Codes: (i) Extended conversation(s) with passenger(s) or (ii) cell phone call(s). Frequently, details can be found in the text above, (ii*) cell phone call(s) which are aggravated by some other action, (iii) Self-distracted. Codes (ii*) and (iii) will ALWAYS be explained in the posting.

I.D. Numbers of Buses Defaced by WhoIs stickers:xxxx;

~UR or +UR = (+URsticker and the ugly residue left after passengers partly remove the sticker. (~UR) = Only the ugly residue left after passengers almost completely remove the sticker. +L = an old (legacy) sticker black letters on a plain white background –these are the original form of the defacement.

* Another reason for displaying the operator's ID on the internal display and the headsign.

The format is Driver number F[{Y/-n/+n}] C[{Y/N+/-}]. Meaning of F if Y the driver stopped with the Bus stop “flag pole” somewhere between the bus front door frames. A negative number, e.g., -3 is the approximate distance in metres (think yards dear readers) between the nearest bus door vertical frame member and the flag pole signifying that the bus stopped short of the flag. A positive number, e.g., +3 (metres) is the approximate distance between the nearest bus door vertical frame member and the flag pole signifying that the bus stopped past the flag. The value for C[{Y/N}], “Y” tells us that the driver stopped within an easy step from the curb to the bus, “N” means it was NOT an easy step from the curb to the bus. It is this Mole's belief that an average experienced good driver should be able to control his bus so as to position in near the curb and with the flag pole slightly to the front of the bus.

I.D. numbers of drivers who are unable or unwilling to position their buses parallel to the curb, a short step from the curb and/or equidistant from the vehicles exits. At the present time (2016-05-31) there are too many drivers to name, whose skill at parallel parking is deficient .

ADADO = Automatic Destination Announcement (on) Door Opening. This feature is installed on many buses and operates on extremely few. Another “money down the toilet” LACMTA investment. La Taupe that this is intended for the visually impaired because people who can see can read the “head signs”.

ASAS = Automatic Stop Announcement System the GPS (Global Positioning System) driven mechanism for generating audio for the upcoming stops. N.B. Because of the low power (read weak) processors used in the on-board stops may be too close to identify stops separately. This is known as a granularity problem. Then too, if the driver operates the bus at speed above the speed limit you will find the system “back announcing” stops which you have already passed. I find that this will NOT keep some drivers from complaining “that you didn’t signal (ring) in time”. They don’t understand their relationship to the system and how, by driving faster than the GPS computer, they can bias it.

BART = Bay Area Rapid Transit – Please note the use of the word “Rapid” because it is a word we almost never hear in Los Angeles.

BBB = Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus

CHSRA = California High-Speed Rail Authority, which is the equivalent, in more

Rapid Transit = does not compete for right of way, that is, it will not run at grade unless it has EXCLUSIVE DEDICATED USE of the right of way).

R&J = Rough and Jerky [ride].

TT= Torrance Transit.

T1= the normal type of driver/staff.

T2= is the non-stop talker type of driver/staff, on the phone or to passengers,

T3= the uncommunicative type of driver/staff, sometimes surly.

WLATC = the West Los Angeles Transportation Center (Fairfax & Apple)

SuTopo’s Disclaimer and apologia

Your Mole always attempts to write an easy-on-the-eyes page using text input. Blogger.com however, has other ideas and will often not stay with a single font type or point size, produces extraneous spacing and etc. I wish I had time to debug the HTML which they produce, it is NOT the straight text which I pasted into the form, but I don’t. Therefore, I apologize on behalf of Blogger.com for the changes which they make, of which I do not approve. Sometimes, what I see, thankfully you don’t, is 24 point type –it is giant and other times they swallow my text, although it still seems to be there. In fairness to them, things seem better, although this is partly because I do understand which of their “features” do the most damage to me and consequently do not use them. Communicating these problems to them, for me, is something like having teeth extracted without the benefit of anesthetic, actually it is less fun than that. By their design, there is no simple e-mailing them with "Please look at my say, posting of 2009-06-28, it is weird!” I have been submitting feedback and experiences slow but positive progress. Until all issues are resolved, losiento. [Addenda2014-07-31]: Things have been much better lately. There is a more responsive feedback system now. [Addenda 2015-08-22]: Recently, even the "Feedback" mechanism has failed to submit problems. [2015-12-31] The feedback section disallows screen shots which show problems with the "final posting", such as, orange sections which cover blocks of text and change the font size. All it would take is allowing and attachment. But, ... [Addenda 2016-03-31] Since Blogger.com forced me to learn HTML 5, I can fix "many" of the problems which apparently were caused by using Word notation in "imported" files. The mystery failure to save problem still occurs but have diminished. [insert crossed fingers icon here :-) ].

I like blogger.com very much, and IF things ever normalise, I will consider deleting this "Disclaimer and apologia" section.

This site contains or provides links to copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, sustainable development, environmental, community and worker health, public disclosure, corporate accountability, and etc. We have often included relatively brief quotes from articles and etc., sometimes in addition to a simple link, because we have found that links frequently go "bad" or change over time. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without fee or payment of any kind to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes and to those who access the site via any and all other channels. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Music or other recorded material on this site, or referred to by this site are copyrighted by their respective artists and are made available here for evaluation purposes only. Please support the artists you like by buying their commercial CDs, MP3s and downloads.

Your Mole’s Conflict of Interest Statement

This is to certify that I, the blogger who is known as the LAmetroMole, with respect to this blog, except as described below, am not now nor at any time during the past year have been, nor is it my current intention to ever be:

1) A participant, directly or indirectly, in any arrangement, agreement, investment, or other activity with any vendor, supplier, or other party doing business with any of the entities about which I have written, which has resulted or could result in personal benefit to me.

2) A recipient, directly or indirectly, of any salary payments or loans or gifts of any kind or any free service or discounts or other fees from or on behalf of any person or organisation engaged in any transaction with any of the entities about which I have written.

Any exceptions to 1 or 2 above are stated below with a full description of the transactions and of the interest, whether direct or indirect, which I have (or have had during the past year) in the persons or organisations having transactions with any of the entities about which I have written.

There are no exceptions.

Date: 2009-06-24 s/LametroMole

WorksCited

Please use the links found in “Works Cited” and read all the cited articles.